NAIROBI, Kenya -- Russia formally notified the United Nations on Thursday of its acceptance of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, starting a three-month countdown for the long-debated 1997 pact on cutting greenhouse gas emissions to come into force.
President Vladimir Putin signed the protocol into law earlier this month, allowing it to take effect in 128 nations that ratified it, said U.N. environmental agency spokesman Eric Falt. The United States has refused to join.
On Thursday, Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations, Andrei Denisov, turned over the accession documents to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Nairobi, where the U.N. Security Council is holding a rare meeting outside its New York headquarters.
"I congratulate President Putin and the Russian Federation for their leadership in making it possible for the protocol to enter into force -- as it will, 90 days from tomorrow on Feb. 16, 2005," Annan said. "This is a historic step forward in the world's efforts to combat a truly global threat."
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-russia-kyoto-protocol,0,1312396.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines
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